1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an antenna. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a modularized antenna suitable for a power system.
2. Description of Related Art
Power systems (e.g., power plants, power generators, solar panels, etc) require controlling circuits for maintaining their functions or monitoring their conditions. There are many ways to implement the controlling circuits, such as implementing programmable logic controllers (PLC) on each individual device, setting up a central controller to control multiple devices, or implementing a wireless controller for controlling all devices remotely. Among these solutions, the wireless controller provides the best flexibility and controllability.
The wireless controller requires an antenna for transferring or receiving the telecommunication signals or information between two devices. Some traditional antennas are sealed within the metal casing of the device. Some other antennas are formed as individual pieces extending from a printed circuit board of the device to an external space outside the device. The traditional antenna design is suitable for an indoor device. However, the same design of antenna encounters some problem while being utilized in an outdoor device, such as a micro-inverter or an electronic device with requirements of ingress protection (IP).
For example, the micro-inverter is one of common electrical device with requirements of ingress protection (IP) and is widely used in a distributed power network. Many devices in the distributed power network are implemented outdoors. Therefore, the micro-inverter usually has a metal shielding case for providing an ingress protection. For example, some micro-inverters are required to have a high ingress protection rating, e.g. rating at IP65. If the antenna is sealed inside the metal shielding case, the telecommunication signal will be blocked by the metal shielding case. On the other hand, if the antenna is extended through a through hole on the metal shielding case, it is hard to achieve the waterproof requirement for the ingress protection rating.
In addition, some electronic devices with requirements of ingress protection (IP) may require extra holes opened on the metal shielding case in order to display indicative light signals representing the working state of the electronic devices. However, extra holes on the case may increase the difficulty of waterproof feature.